Uber set to resume it's self-driving program on public roads eight months after one of it's

Uber will soon resume its self-driving testing program on public roads after eight months on the sidelines. Uber was responsible for the first fatally involving an autonomous vehicle when it failed to detect and stop when pedestrian Elaine Herzberg walked across a street in Tempe, Arizona in the dark. The fatal collision triggered Uber to halt all public road testing of its self-driving program, but nearly eights months later they have reportedly filed a request with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to test self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh. Uber has put together a mandate of safety reviews that they say will improve its “safety culture.” Some new features include: • Making safety part of hiring and selection process

• Creating an anonymous reporting system for safety concerns • Improving object detection and classification • Building a consistent set of safety performance metrics • Limit mission specialists to four hours per day in the driver seat Some features are already currently in place and are being executed according to Forbes. Uber have also confirmed that they now will operate all self-driving testing with two mission specialists in any given vehicle. Previously it had been a single person that was given the responsibility to ensure the safe operations of their driverless cars. Uber’s self driving program has racked up two million autonomous miles, eight million less than its main rival in this field, Waymo.